In this case art does not inmate life

By Natasha Dowdy Gordon The elements of hate, intolerance, and ignorance have combined once again to wreak havoc, cause fury, and claim the lives of innocent people. The United States Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens was killed in an attack late Tuesday night.

John Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed as they fled a consulate building that had been invaded by gunmen who have ties to al Qaeda. The violent outrage is a direct result of the blame placed upon the United States for a film that portrayed the Prophet Mohammad in a less than favorable light.

The film titled “Innocence of Muslims” was produced in the United Stated by Israel American business man Sam Becile and is being promoted by Pastor Terry Jones. Jones, a Florida preacher with a congregation of less than 50 people, was thrust into the spotlight for burning the Quran, which sparked protest all over the Middle East in 2011. Jones is also infamous for his antic of hanging an epitaph of President Obama on the front lawn of his church.

In the film, Mohammad was depicted as a religious fake, womanizer, child molester, and fool, and Sam Becile did not just stop with those assertions, as he claims that the movie will showcase what he calls the ‘Hypocrisy” and ‘hateful’ nature of Islam. Becile actually went so far as to show Mohammad in what appears to be a sexual act with a woman. For many Muslims, any depiction of the Prophet is blasphemous. The film was actually shown in a small theater in California, but due to its’ poor quality and low budget appearance, it never gained any traction, but somehow clips of what many in cyber space are describing as an” insult to videography”, found their way to YouTube.

The United States government was very quick to condemn the murders in Libya, the movie, and those responsible for making it. In a statement made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton immediately following the attack, she stated, “The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation, but let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind.”

President Barack Obama released a statement earlier this morning, and he said: I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.” In the same statement, the president went on to say, “I have directed my administration to provide all necessary resources to support the security of our personnel in Libya and to increase security at our diplomatic post around the globe. While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. We must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants.”

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and his surrogates wasted no time grasping at the opportunity to attack the president and politicize the tragedy in Libya. Mitt Romney said in a written statement, “I’m outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate in Benghazi.It is disgraceful that the Obama Administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.”

Dennis Hamil of the New York Daily News wrote in response to Romney’s remarks, “Awful. Political, exploitative, opportunistic.” Hamil also wrote, “In boxing, a reckless roadhouse punch like Romney’s is the mark of a desperate “amacha” reeling on the ropes after Obama scored a five-point post-convention bump in the polls. Romney’s Libyan punch missed by a mile and as we bury more innocent Americans killed on September 11, it leaves Romney open for the kind of counterpunch from which even the best fighters don’t often recover.”

Stay tuned to the Westside Gazette for more developments on this story